


Escape

by Merzibelle



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 13:59:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/775004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merzibelle/pseuds/Merzibelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the wake of the events of "Chasing Ghosts" and "Berlin", Timothy McGee engineers his escape from the MCRT.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Consider this wishful thinking - that someone on the MCRT would acknowledge the slippery slope the team is on with the way they always break the rules and go rogue. Someday, they're going to get caught...

Tim McGee leaned against the wall beside the Director’s office door. In his hands he held both an envelope and a folder. He’d broken protocol but only after the fact by leaving a message for the new Mossad director in her personal email account. He’d copied the message to friends at the CIA and Homeland Security, both times bypassing the people involved in the Bodnar search. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them but he didn’t trust them, and he did trust Pete and Anna to watch his back. Last night’s actions – hacking into Mossad’s database – could get him killed. He’d protested; however, Vance had insisted that nothing would happen to him that he’d ‘take the heat’ for it. Yeah, right. Vance wouldn’t be the one shot from a distance or whose suicide was staged as a warning and message to others for daring to do what he’d done.

And the hell of it was that he wouldn't have minded any of it if Ziva hadn't treated him like the enemy. He’d been threatened, coerced, deceived, abused, and generally pushed into an operation which clearly was both unsanctioned and dangerous. Despite his attempts at reasoning with the principal instigators of the situation – first with Ziva and then with Vance – his protests were ignored. He knew better than to go to Gibbs. He knew how single minded the man got when it came to revenge. Tim had seen it happen more than once in his career at NCIS. But one day the Gibbs luck was going to run out. The Teflon coating the MCRT team seemed to wear would slip away. They would be fired, jailed, or worse depending on who did the investigating. He didn’t plan on being here when it finally happened.

“Good morning, McGee.”

“Director.” Tim looked up from where he’d been staring blindly at the floor. “We need to talk.”

“My office.”

Tim inclined his head in acknowledgment. He followed Vance into his office and leaned back against the conference table. He watched the director check his messages and emails while settling in for the morning. He barely smiled as he marshaled his arguments. His initial actions – covering his own ass by contacting friends – had been done in the heat of the moment. He’d had time to think after making the calls. Now it was time to put all that thinking and planning he’d done to work.

“So, what can I do for you this morning, Agent McGee?”

“You can approve my transfer to the Office of Special Projects in Los Angeles.”

“Why do you want to transfer in the middle of one of our largest cases?”

“Because I cannot, in good conscious, continue to work on that case.” Tim straightened away from the table. He crossed the few feet between him and Vance’s desk. He stared down at the man now seated behind it. “I and my family have been threatened by a coworker in order to find the information she wanted for her revenge. I’ve been told to keep off the books uses of NCIS equipment from my superiors. And finally, I’ve been asked to hack into an allied power’s secure servers to continue that search for revenge.”

“And…” Vance leaned back to look up at him. “I told you I’d take the heat for that.”

“You’re not the one who they’d hunt down for the breach, sir.” Tim glared at the older man. “I will not continue working on this case. Nor can I continue to work with Agent Gibbs. He’s supporting this operation – this obsession with revenge – and is once again losing sight of protocol and logic in favor of emotion.”

“So you’re running away rather than doing your job.”

“No, sir.” Tim tossed an envelope onto the desk in front of Vance. “I’m leaving before this turns into another black mark against NCIS. You can either transfer me or I can resign. Either way, I will be leaving the MCRT. I thought you’d want to keep me with NCIS but I have many other options to fall back on.”

“And this?”

“That letter is a copy of my records of this investigation. Of the threats made against me and my family. It also includes my personal records of all the failures in the last ten years of the MCRT and of my superior’s support of me during various cases.”

“So you’re blackmailing me to get what you want.”

“I prefer to call it ‘creative negotiations’, Director.” Tim chuckled bitterly then gave a small half-smile. “Copies of that letter have gone to my father, the Admiral McGee, my godfather, current vice chairmen of the Armed Forces committee, and several family friends in various public and private sector positions. I won’t be coerced anymore, sir. Nor will I be threatened. Now, do I get my transfer?”

“You would really expose NCIS to that sort of investigation and oversight?”

“If I have to….” Tim trailed off for a moment. “Yes.”

“So, I give you this requested transfer.” Vance leaned back in his chair. Tim could see him thinking through the options. “What do I get?”

“One, I tell everyone holding those letters to continue to hold them while leaving them unopened. Two, I will remain with NCIS for a minimum of two years, long enough for any suspected connection to this current investigation to die down, and then I will quietly resign. As I said, Director, I have plenty of offers open to me.” Tim settled into the chair before Vance’s desk. “However, if anything happens to me outside of case related injuries before those two years are up, the holders of those letters will open them and use the information contained in them. Are we in agreement?”

“I don’t see as how I have any other choice, Agent McGee.” Vance held out a hand for the folder Tim still held. Tim chuckled softly but handed it over. He’d already filled in all the pertinent details for the transfer. He watched, calm and composed, as Vance read over the paperwork. He saw the moment the man reached the effective date of the transfer in the frown he recieved but still the Director signed the papers. Tim accepted his copies back with a small nod though Vance held onto the folder for a moment longer. “You’ve learned politics, Tim. I’m not certain I like that.”

“I’ve always known politics, Director. I learned how things worked a long time ago. I do have an Admiral for a father.” Tim just barely smiled. He’d gotten the agreement and the transfer he’d wanted at the sacrifice of a lifelong dream. “Thank you for your assistance, Director Vance.”

~ * ~ * ~

_Three years later…_

Tim leaned on the railing overlooking the Southeast Loch and watched as the USS _Carl Vinson_

“McGee.”

Tim tensed for a moment. This was the confrontation which he didn’t want but he could be relieved that it wasn’t occurring in his office. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly and turned around to face the man behind him. “Gibbs.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

“Would you have supported me?”

“McGee…”

“That’s what I thought. Gibbs.”

He watched Gibbs as the man trailed off into silence. A tired sigh escaped him as he turned back to the harbor behind them. He waited patiently. Despite the passage of time, he was likely the one person remaining in NCIS who truly knew Jethro Gibbs. Another sigh escaped the man as he too leaned on the railing.

“You never gave me a chance.”

“Abby screwed up and you humiliated me. Tony screwed up and I paid the price. Ziva…” Tim shook his head. “Let’s not even talk about that. Tell me something, Jethro. When you were fucking me, did you even realize who I was?”

“You know I did.” Gibbs all but growled the words. He smacked a hand on the railing between them. “I snatched at the flimsiest of excuses to get out here to see you. Dammit, Tim, why didn’t you talk to me?”

“And that took three years?” Tim turned to face Gibbs. He considered the older man for several minutes. Finally, he ran his hand through his hair and nodded once. “I was tired. I was scared. And you, Ziva and Vance were so consumed by your search for revenge that you didn’t care about anything else. I tried to tell Tony and he blew me off. He was so focused on supporting Ziva. I had no reason to believe you wouldn’t too.”

“Tony didn’t listen? He always said…” Gibbs trailed off again. “Hell, Tim…”

“Water under the bridge, Jethro.” Tim laughed softly. “Under several bridges.”

“So what now?”

“Aside from finishing this case, I don’t think there’s a now. Not for us anyway.” Tim shrugged one shoulder. “I won’t go back to DC. Not to the MCRT at least. I have a life here. And you… well, you would never leave.”

“Tim…” Gibbs stared at him. Finally, his hand came up to rest on Tim’s shoulder. It was a familiar gesture as was the soft slide of that hand over his back before it dropped away. A familiar and, if Tim was honest with himself, missed one. “You’re not even going to ask?”

Tim debated with himself for several minutes. He knew what Granger had planned for him. He knew the man was grooming him to replace Vance in the next few years. He’d done the Agent Afloat stint onboard a moderate sized destroyer before taking over this office. He had choices and options but did he want to continue on without Gibbs. He turned back to the water while he thought before finally nodding and turning back to the other man. “Stay, Jethro.”

“I filed my retirement before I left DC.” Gibbs smiled. One of those honest smiles Tim had so rarely seen and then only in private. “Put the car in storage, arrange for the house to be closed up and watched while I was here. This is my last case, Tim. Tony takes over the team when it’s done. Even if you didn’t…”

“Shh.” Tim glanced around, saw they were alone but for some tourists, and took a step closer. He reached over and cupped Gibbs cheek. He debated for a moment more and then leaned forward for a brief chaste kiss. “Welcome to Hawaii, Jethro…” He repeated the kiss before stepping back with a smile of his own. “I’ve missed you.”


End file.
